Likud leader Ariel Sharon last night called on Prime Minister Ehud Barak to have no part in the release of Palestinian prisoners who had committed murder.
"No agreement on paper is worth the heavy security and moral price Israel will pay as a result of such a step," Sharon said.
Sharon said it is possible to reach an agreement with the Palestinians without
harming Israeli interests. He called the release of prisoners involved in terror
attacks or the murder of Palestinians who had helped the Israeli security forces
"moral bankruptcy."
He criticized a statement by the Prime Minister's Office that the release of
prisoners "with blood on their hands" was part of the Wye agreement signed by
the Netanyahu government.
"This is an utter lie and an attempt to mislead the public. At the time Wye was formulated, we made it completely clear that under no circumstances would we release prisoners with blood on their hands or members of the Hamas or Islamic Jihad terror organizations which continue to try to attack Israel," Sharon said.
The Likud faction issued a statement saying Barak "had been a stunning failure
in his first diplomatic test" and had crossed the red lines set by the Peres and
Rabin governments.
"From today, Yasser Arafat knows he faces a weak Israeli prime minister who
cannot stand up to pressure and gives up on the principle of reciprocity, and
this does not bode well for the final-status agreements."
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